Personality
This week’s biggest Winners & Losers
Who’s up and who’s down this week?
This week, many of us humbly learned what a mukbang is. Mayor Zohran Mamdani and his prized Department of Consumer and Worker Protection Commissioner Sam Levine ate CrunchWrap Supremes® and Munchkins® while sipping Baja Blasts® and announcing a $1.8 million settlement against Taco Bell and Dunkin’ franchises as well as the clothing retailer Theory. Journalists were not allowed in the room for the announcements, but were able to submit questions via YouTube livestream. “The audience for these announcements are the people who keep this city running, the folks who made the CrunchWrap Supreme®,” Levine said.
Elisabeth Fey, Fanny Shum & Benedetta Piantella -
Just just two days after hundreds of faculty members walked off the job due to a long-standing contract dispute, members of Contract Faculty United-UAW’s bargaining team struck a tentative agreement with New York University administrators, after. The union – which represents roughly 950 full-time, non-tenured faculty members – secured significant salary increases in the process, winning a 20% raise on average this year. For a first-time contract? Not a bad way to kick things off.
James Skoufis & Amy Paulin -
Even-year elections are officially coming to many local races in New York. The U.S. Supreme Court declined to hear a GOP challenge to the law after every level of state court upheld the statute – ending Republicans’ last hope to keep local elections in odd years. The legislation from state Sen. James Skoufis and Assembly Member Amy Paulin will remain the law of the land. And the pair’s ongoing efforts to expand even-year elections with a state constitutional amendment will surely benefit from the end of this particular legal fight.
Carina Kaufman-Gutierrez -
New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani’s City Hall is one that has welcomed in some advocates who have long fought the institutional seat of power, sharing that power with them for the first time. As the executive director of the newly created Office of Street Vendor Services, Carina Kaufman-Gutierrez will now have the heft of City Hall behind her as she fights for street vendors’ rights. Any kind of details on a budget for the new office, however, are still TBA.
Bruce Blakeman -
Challenges are stacking up for the GOP gubernatorial candidate. His campaign is at risk of being booted from the state’s public campaign financing program after he missed the deadline to file paperwork for his running mate Madison County Sheriff Todd Hood, and he’s taking heat for transferring $14 million in opioid settlement dollars to the county’s general fund. On the plus side, an internal poll has him trailing Hochul by just 9 points, and he’s still making gains with undecided voters with time to spare.
Carrie Heyn -
Who steals approximately $27,000 from a troubled annual festival benefiting local nonprofit organizations? Carrie Heyn pleaded guilty to doing just that while treasurer of CanalFest, an annual Western New York festival celebrating the Erie Canal. Heyn’s actions come as CanalFest faces a laundry list of issues, including a state bailout in 2023, Tonawanda pulling out of the festival this year and North Tonawanda moving the festival from a plaza adjacent to the Erie Canal to a park along the Niagara River.
Jay Clayton -
Manhattan federal prosecutors admitted in a court filing that a lawyer for U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement had given faulty justifications for the arrests of thousands of migrants at immigration court hearings. U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of New York Jay Clayton may not be directly responsible for the false information, but it raises questions about why the lawyer’s memo was not scrutinized by the Southern District. Now, a judge has ordered Clayton and ICE to preserve their communications on the matter – this could only be the beginning.